It has happened to every overwhelmed and sleep-deprived new parent: a thought crosses your mind that doesn’t exactly meet the gold standard for good parenting. For Plainsboro resident Sarah Showfety, pictured at right, those thoughts came after the birth of her daughter. But along with the pangs of guilt came a recognition of the humor in the situation.
“One night, I was nursing my infant daughter for what felt like the millionth time, after a long, tough day and I found myself wishing she would hurry up and finish so I could have a glass of wine,” Showfety recalls. “I laughed at the wrongness of that thought — and immediately felt the need to apologize.”
Showfety began compiling a list of similar “parenting crimes” and realized that if she found them funny, perhaps others would too. And Dear Baby XO was born.
“I thought if it brought me so much amusement, other parents might enjoy it too, so I started a Facebook page and began to build an audience,” Showfety says. “Initially, I created Dear Baby XO as an outlet for me to laugh during a time when I was stressed and freaked out. But I love that is also brings humor and lightness to parents everywhere doing a really hard job, often in isolation.”
Each entry on the page, which is updated nearly every day, features a funny picture of a baby or toddler with a humorous apology.
“Dear Baby: Sorry I can’t play with you. I’m trying to finish the 3 sentence email I started at 8 am.”
“Dear Baby: Sorry we walked within 50 feet of the carousel when it was closed.”
As it turned out, Showfety was not alone in seeing the humor in these less-than-perfect parenting moments.
“When I realized how much other moms (and a few dads) loved it, I did start to think, wow, I would love to reach a wider audience with this, but how?” Showfety continues. Her audience grew slowly at first, but an article in the Huffington Post put her on the map. “It went viral and suddenly I was getting contacted by ABC News, Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail, the Doctors TV show, Vanity Fair Italy and many other international outlets.”
Dear Baby XO’s Facebook page has more than 29,000 likes and has also expanded to Instagram, Twitter, and a website, dearbabyxo.com. And as of this month, it is also a book: “Dear Baby: I’m Sorry … Apologies for Life’s Little Parenting Fails,” published by Sourcebooks, is now for sale at Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide.
Showfety holds a book signing at Barnes & Noble in MarketFair on Sunday, May 1, at noon, as well as a book launch party and moms’ night out at CrossFit Ex Novo on Thursday, May 12, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The free event includes dramatic readings from “Dear Baby: I’m Sorry” as well as a massage station by Alchemy Mind & Body, beauty station by NU EVOLUTION Cosmetics, and refreshments by Bai and Fridge2Table personal chef. Registration is required to dearbabyxo@gmail.com.
Showfety grew up in Westfield, where her father was a CPA and her mother stayed home with her four children. She went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lived in New York for 13 years before moving to Plainsboro when her husband, Kurt Shuman, left his job in New York to open CrossFit Ex Novo on Alexander Road in West Windsor (The News, August 22, 2014). In addition to their daughter, now three years old, they also have a baby boy.
“Dear Baby XO” is not Showfety’s first venture into humor writing. As a single woman living in New York, she wrote “Dating by the Books: One Blundering Singleton’s Search for Love in the Self-Help Aisle.”
“I thought it would be fun and interesting to read and put into practice the advice of a different dating guidebook every month for a year,” she says. “So I did. It’s about my trials, errors, misadventures, and what I learned.”
In New York she also worked in marketing, documentary film production, and finance, as well as starting her own business as a personal development coach. But now she is a full-time humor writer and mom. “I produce daily, comedic content that is intentionally bite-sized to give people an easy, quick break from their hectic lives without having to invest in reading a long-form article,” she says. “I guess I created it for the modern attention span. Which is short. And if you’re a parent, it’s even shorter.”
“I think it’s very easy as a mom to put your own well-being and self-expression on the back burner but the evolution of Dear Baby from Facebook page with 10 fans to the “Dear Baby: I’m Sorry” book and online audience of nearly 35,000 and growing has affirmed my belief that we all need to take our creativity and dreams seriously. If you have an idea, get started. Don’t listen to inner voices that tell you you can’t or shouldn’t. You never know what something you create may turn into and who else needs to hear what you have to say.”
Dear Baby: I’m Sorry Book Signing, Barnes & Noble Market Fair, 3535 Route 1 South, West Windsor. Sunday, May 1, noon. www.bn.com.
Moms’ Night Out, CrossFit Ex Novo, 743 Alexander Road No. 11, West Windsor. Thursday, May 12, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Dramatic readings, massage and beauty stations, and refreshments. Free. Register to dearbabyxo@gmail.com. www.dearbabyxo.com.
